British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has retired, effective immediately, all of its remaining B747-400s due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft. It is a heart-breaking decision to have to make. As painful as it is, this is the most logical thing for us to propose. The retirement of the jumbo jet will be felt by many people across Britain, as well as by all of us at British Airways," Chief Executive Alex Cruz said.

According to the ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Aircraft Data module, British Airways had thirty-three B747-400s in its fleet in March 2020, when the pandemic started to seriously affect the airline, making it by far the world's largest operator of the type.

While most of the type's scheduled flights stopped in late March, British Airways continued to operate the B747-400s on individual flights, mostly repatriation charters, thereafter. According to Flightradar24 ADS-B data, the type's last commercial British Airways flight was on June 3-4 when G-CIVP (msn 28850) flew a repatriation charter from London Heathrow to Cape Town International and return.

Prior to this formal announcement, the bulk of British Airways' B747s had already been parked. Out of the 33 aircraft that operated in March, 14 are currently stored in Cardiff where the carrier has a maintenance facility, five each in Teruel and Kemble, and two in St. Athan. Seven units remain parked at Heathrow.

British Airways, which owned all of its B747-400s, has operated several variants of the B747 Family since 1971 and at one time, had a total of 57 in its fleet.

The airline said that its more modern widebodies - six A350-900s, twelve B787-8s, eighteen B787-9s, and two B787-10s - are up to 25% more fuel efficient than the B747s. The carrier's widebody fleet also includes two B777-200s, forty-three B777-200ERs, and twelve B777-300ERs.

In terms of its largest aircraft, British Airways also has twelve parked A380-800s. It has yet to announce any decisions regarding the future of the Airbus quadjets.